According to an April 26 Dow Jones report, Calgary, Alberta-based TransCanada Corp. has pushed back the Keystone XL pipeline’s in-service date to the second half of 2015, while the line awaits U.S. regulatory approval.

British Columbia-based Methanex announced April 24 that it will move a second, 1 million-tonne-per-year methanol plant from Chile to Geismar, La.

Salt Lake City-based supply chain management company Savage Services announced April 29 that it’s offering expanded services at its terminals in Salt Lake City and Price, Utah, including crude-by-rail transloading services and associated car storage on a manifest basis.

Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge, Inc. announced May 7 that it has entered into a terminal-services agreement with ConocoPhillips Canada Resources Corp. and Total E&P Canada Ltd. for a US$300-million expansion of existing infrastructure at Enbridge’s Cheecham terminal to accommodate incremental bitumen production from Surmont’s Phase-2 expansion.

Sunoco Logistics Partners LP has received enough binding commitments to enable its Mariner South pipeline to proceed as planned, the company announced May 6.

ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum have signed a commercial agreement to build a US$10-billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal facility – coined the Golden Pass Terminal – in the U.S. Gulf Coast port of Sabine Pass, Texas, according to a May 10 Dallas Morning News report.

Texas-based CB&I announced April 30 that it won a contract from Shandong Wonfull Petrochemical Group to provide the license and processing engineering design for a first-of-a-kind solid-acid alkylation unit in China.

India-based Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. (JSPL) reportedly aims to get involved in a multi-faceted coal project in Botswana including a coal-to-liquids (CTL) scheme.

Felda Global Ventures Holdings Berhad (FGV), through its subsidiary Felda Global Ventures Downstream Sdn Bhd, announced April 18 it signed an asset purchase agreement with Mission Biotechnologies Sdn Bhd (MBSB) to acquire its assets, including a biodiesel plant situated at Kuantan Port in Malaysia for US$11.5 million.

British multinational BG Group announced May 6 that it has signed agreements with China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) in which CNOOC will acquire a greater interest in the first of two production trains of the Queensland Curtis LNG Project (QCLNG) and a greater stake in upstream tenements.

Alfa Laval announced April 19 that it won orders to install its “Aalborg XS-TC7A” waste heat-recovery (WHR) economizers on auxiliary engines onboard the entire fleet of the United Arab Shipping Co., the largest regional container ship operator.

A researcher at Hefei University of Technology (HFUT) is touting the commercial development of a diesel-particulate filter (DPF) that tolerates diesel fuels with relatively high sulfur content – an issue that has stifled broader adoption of DPF’s in much of China.

Finnish refiner Neste Oil announced April 26 that it plans to invest €42 million (about US$55 million) in improving energy efficiency and operational reliability at its Porvoo, Finland refinery.

INEOS and Solvay have agreed to combine their chlorvinyls businesses into a 50-50 joint venture (JV) – effectively becoming one of the largest polyvinyl chloride (PVC) producers in the world, the companies announced May 7.

Finland-based pulp and paper producer UPM announced April 26 that it’s launching real-world fleet-vehicle tests of its “BioVerno” all-hydrocarbon renewable diesel fuel made from tall oil (a pine-tree byproduct).

Wärtsilä announced May 3 that it won a contract to supply emergency diesel generators for the Olkiluoto nuclear-power plant in Finland.

Rosneft announced April 29 that it and Mitsui signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly develop a petrochemical complex project, which will be developed by Rosneft subsidiary Far East Petrochemical Co. (FEPCO).

Air Liquide announced April 19 that it signed a partnership deal with the French government’s atomic energy commission (CEA) on a scheme involving biomass gasification.

Sweden-based Atlas Copco announced April 25 the launch of a range of mainly electric-powered underground mining trucks and loaders, touting “100% diesel-emissions-free operation.”

Foster Wheeler announced May 7 that it won a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract from Gazproneft for a combined oil refinery unit (CORU) project at the Moscow refinery in Russia.

China-based electric-vehicle maker BYD announced April 25 that six of its electric buses are now in service in the island city of Schiermonnikoog and in the province of Friesland, Netherlands.